Film News

CHICAGO – One of the most successful ongoing film festivals is Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema (APUC). Facilitated by founder and veteran film programmer Sophia Wong Bocchio, the fest anticipates Season Eight with another amazing line-up of films from Japan, Mongolia, Singapore, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Indonesia and South Korea.

CHICAGO – He moved deftly from British matinee idol to formidable movie star to reliable character actor, and was nominated four times for an Academy Award (no wins). Albert Finney had a nearly 50 year stage and screen career that encompassed virtually all types and genres of acting. He died in London on February 7th, 2019. He was 82.

CHICAGO – After all the controversies that beset the 91st Academy Awards, the actual event continued to surprise, with the stunning upset of Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) as the Best Actress honoree – besting heavily favored Glenn Close – to the naming of “Green Book” as Best Picture, which overcame a backlash regarding the liberties of its based-on-truth story.

CHICAGO – Time to fill out the Oscar prediction ballots! The 91st Academy Awards are on Sunday, February 24th, 2019, and HC film critics Patrick McDonald, Michael “Spike” Walters and Jon Lennon Espino are ready to add their prognosticating powers to eight major categories, plus three wild cards. Let the predicting begin.

CHICAGO – For the second year, Chicago’s DePaul University, and their film school within the College of Computing and Digital Media, hosted the Big Shoulders International Film Festival. The event was a two day celebration, and honored student short films from all over the world. After a showcase with Director Qiu Yang and Cinematographer Constanze Schmitt (the 2017 Winner of the Cannes Film Film Festival Short Film Palme d’Or, “A Gentle Night”). on Friday, February 1st, 2019, the festival wrapped up on February 2nd with split screenings of their 21 finalist films at the historic Davis Theatre in Chicago. The top film awards were given after the screenings.

CHICAGO – They’ve got the world on a string – and other forms of bringing inanimate objects to life – at the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, which is currently presenting shows all around the city through January 27th, 2019. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

CHICAGO – Chicago’s Kartemquin Films continues their winning streak, as director Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap” scores an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. The 91st Academy Awards will take place on February 24th, 2019.

CHICAGO – On a cold day in January, it was a “Cold War” night. The Midwest Independent Film Festival “Best of the Midwest” (BMA) Awards for 2018 were given out on January 17th, 2019, and “Cold War” took home three major honors, including Best Feature.

CHICAGO – The art of the documentary film gets a different spin in the Gene Siskel Film Centers January series, Stranger Than Fiction. As part of this series, the Chicago Premiere of “The Sunday Sessions” – a film about so-called “gay conversion” therapy from the inside – will screen on Friday, January 11th, 2018. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

CHICAGO – It’s easy to bohemian rhapsodize about the best films in any particular year… it’s why we go to the movies. But what about those times when 1) everybody loves something, and you think, “huh?” or 2) the film is just plain “the worst”? Jon Lennon Espino, Spike Walters and Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com can relate.